STEM in Action - a podcast by STEM Ascent

Welcome to a new era for our podcast—STEM in Action!

As our nonprofit ChemTalk evolves into STEM Ascent, our podcast is also growing alongside it. We're excited to bring you conversations from a wide range of STEM fields and continue exploring where your own interests can take you. While our name is changing, our mission remains the same: to explore the people, discoveries, and stories shaping STEM today.

Thank you for listening to STEM in Action, a podcast by STEM Ascent. For more information on today’s episode and countless STEM resources, please visit our website at www.stemascent.org.

For a chemist such as Dr. Matthew Hartings, 3D printing isn’t just about making inert products like plastic models or prototypes. Instead, he explores novel starting materials with specific chemical properties in order to 3D print products with the ability to store gases such as hydrogen. Dr. Hartings also bridges the world of chemistry to everyday life through food, exploring the science behind cooking and sharing some surprising yet simple ways to elevate a meal. On this exciting episode of Let’s Talk Chemistry edited by Presley Vu, hosts Poorvi Iyer, Michael Steitz, and Elizabeth Li talk with Dr. Hartings, Professor of Chemistry at American University, from everything from materials chemistry to the chemistry of cooking. We hope you enjoy!

With 8 billion imaginations in the world, Dr. Martin Burke calculates that the number of specialists who are able to create molecules can fit into a single building. On this exciting episode of Let’s Talk Chemistry edited by Presley Vu, hosts Nina Deng and Poorvi Iyer talk with Dr. Burke, Professor of Chemistry at the University of Illinois Champaign and Founding Director of the Molecule Maker Lab. Dr. Burke is known for pioneering BLOCC chemistry, a modular approach to synthesis that opens up molecule building to non-specialists, robotics, and AI. This has paved the way to creating new treatments and digital platforms where making molecules become easily programmable and accessible to anyone. We hope you enjoy!

Drug discovery is already an incredibly difficult and tedious process, but what happens when there’s little financial incentive to develop the medicine at all? On this exciting episode of Let’s Talk Chemistry edited by Presley Vu, hosts Poorvi Iyer and Nina Deng talk with Dr. Michael Pollastri, senior vice provost and academic lead of the Roux Institute at Northeastern University. From his time as a bench chemist at Pfizer to his current role leading academic research on diseases affecting some of the world’s most vulnerable populations, Dr. Pollastri discusses the realities of neglected diseases and the role academic labs play in addressing gaps in global healthcare research. We hope you enjoy!

Have you ever wondered why new medicines can take decades to be developed and why the process is so costly? On this exciting episode of Let’s Talk Chemistry edited by Presley Vu, hosts Amber Bakkum, Poorvi Iyer, and Nina Deng go behind-the-scenes of the pharmaceutical industry with Dr. John LaMattina, former president of Pfizer Global Research and Development and current biotech advisor. Dr. LaMattina shares his experience first as a bench scientist to becoming the head of global Research and Development at Pfizer Inc. He talks about the important skills needed for chemists to work their way to leadership positions and dispels common myths about the pharmaceutical industry. We hope you enjoy!